Tuesday, 8 May 2012

"Would you have guessed that, one fine day, health insurers will regret the demise of big tobacco and its contribution to health care costs? Would you have guessed that, when that day arrives, health insurers would also learn to love other frowned-upon-vices of their policy holders, such as getting fat and lazy? Your answer is probably 'no, I wouldn't have guessed that in my dreams.'
And also very probably this answer is based on what you typically read in the media, such as this piece of news titled 'Obesity Adds More to Health Care Costs Than Smoking, Study Suggests.' released on April 3, 2012, on sciencenews.com. The article text wraps the title message into a substantially larger amount of unsubstantial words, before it concludes what you would probably subscribe to blindfolded: the '...study [1] provides new insights into the long-term costs of obesity and smoking, showing that both risk factors lead to persistently higher health costs throughout a seven-year follow-up period.' Dah, what else is news?
Well, for one, that the Joe Camels and the lardbuckets, with all their vices, cost their health insurers actually LESS money than Mr. and Mrs Healthy. For one simple reason: the 'vice guys' die earlier."
— chronic healthRead more...

"So what makes the mean premium possible? It's not entirely clear — the study investigated some possible reasons such as that disagreeable people find their way into higher status or more complex jobs, but the data didn't support that conclusion. They did find that disagreeable people place more importance on pay and less on communal relationships than others, which sheds light on their priorities but not on how these are achieved.
Some possibilities include agreeable people being more prepared to compromise and concede, for example on pay negotiation, or for decision-makers to falsely place warmth and competence as two ends of a continuum (rather than independent factors) and conclude that a people person may be less capable.
Highly agreeable men would not only lack those edges, but, as [Timothy] Judge and colleagues point out, are doubly disadvantaged, as they are operating against gender stereotypes by being a soft male. Conversely, the edge that a disagreeable woman gains is blunted by their operating in ways that aren't socially sanctioned. The authors reflect that 'exhortations for women not to be nice...might be overblown,' and the solutions to gender pay inequality lie foremost with decision-makers."
— Occuptional DigestRead more...

"According to new research on body language out of the University of British Columbia, women find happy men—in this study, men who were smiling in photos—significantly less attractive than men portraying other emotions. In a survey of 1,000 adults, women generally preferred men who looked strong and proud, arms raised into the sky, or sullen and ashamed—in that order. Happy men were rated the least attractive. Interestingly, when it came to male preferences, things were reversed: Men rated happy women the most attractive and proud, strong women least attractive. [...]"
— Good CultureRead more...

"You've seen the meme, now read the book. If you haven't gotten your fill of sullen, mopey, emo-esque Keanu Reeves, he's taken the whole Sad Keanu concept to a new level with a book called Ode to Happiness.
The hand-stitched book, which sounds absolutely RIVETING, is essentially one poem written by Reeves. One line is printed on each page, along with inkblot drawings (designed to evoke the appearance of being—I am not making this up—blurred by tears) created by Los Angeles artist Alexandra Grant.
Apparently Reeves was inspired to create this literary masterpiece while listening to a radio station that was playing sad, nostalgic music. He says, 'I just started to write on this piece of paper, because I had this image of, you know, that moment when you take that bath, you light that candle, and you're really just kind of depressed.'"
— Linda Sharps, cafemomRead more...